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The Thirst Is Real

When I fist saw the movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, I was blown away. I mean it terrified me a little, but I had no clue Honest Abe was an actual Vampire Hunter. INSANE! Now I know it’s not real (maybe), but the idea of morphing a president and a thrilling vamp story together is pretty good. However, now reading the book, the connection of Abraham Lincoln to both slavery and vampires is even clearer. When Lincoln wrote, “So long as this country is cursed with slavery so too will it be cursed with vampires” (114) he expresses the interdependency of the two. Masters feed off their slaves, as vampires do their prey. In the book, the masters are the vampires! It’s completely evident that Lincoln is saying that because of the dependency slave owners have on their slaves, the thirst will never go away. Slavery must be abolished so the owners will not have anything to live by. The change has to start from the core. Vampires hunt, they multiply, they infect, and are strong. To weaken them, one must take away the main thing that fuels them: slavery. The novel’s use of slavery and vampirism is a great way to show the reality of the situation. Though, fictional with the use of blood thirsty monsters, slavery itself was very much real. I think that the novel had to use something like the supernatural to relate to the audience’s fear. The evil of slavery doesn’t only set with a white man in a suit abusing slaves. It is beyond one’s worse nightmare. It deals with real monsters and depicts the horror slaves dealt with.

The physical descriptions of these slave owner vampires as wealthy, definitely added to the text. They were seen as snobbish, in a way. Untouchable. And think about it, would you touch or even go near a vampire? I didn’t think so. The distinction of master and slave has been long analyzed through other literary works and this novel once again reminded us of that.

Nowadays, vampirism is seen everywhere. The hype of turning these blood-suckers into movie actors, winning the hearts of teenage girls, have been played out. The best examples are Twilight and the Vampire Diaries. I’m sure there’s a lot more out there, but these two series has got to hit the top spots. Of course I’ve seen the films and watched a couple of episodes and dreamed of a love story like theirs, but sorry to break it to the rest of you dreamers, it isn’t gonna happen! But the way vampirism is used is another genius way to send a message about actual reality. This newfound obsession with the supernatural and love express some people’s deepest desires. In other words, “the thirst is real.” Vampirism in contemporary use is seen beyond the love stories, but in this world we want to create into reality. We feed off emotions. We crave love and as witnessed through the media, some of us will kill to have it.

I thought your post was so enjoyable to read- very cleverly written. Getting to the gist of what I got out of your post: I really like your idea that vampirism allows, or sometimes even forces, us to real with often uncomfortable topics and situations. Two of your lines that really stood out to me in displaying this idea were:

“The evil of slavery doesn’t only set with a white man in a suit abusing slaves. It is beyond one’s worse nightmare. It deals with real monsters and depicts the horror slaves dealt with.”

“This newfound obsession with the supernatural and love express some people’s deepest desires.”

I think these are both really important to address because the first idea grapples with the reality that slavery was ( and in some places still is) a monstrous and horrific thing that is incomparable with most other things in our lives… therefore we make the connection any way we can (and here, vampires). The second line shows another side of the purpose of thinking about vampires, while still related in that sometimes we cannot compare our desires and thoughts to things that exist in our lives. I think that’s why fantasy can be so powerful.